Written Answers Thursday 20 October 2005

Scottish Executive

Bridges

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18594 by Tavish Scott on 15 September 2005, what estimate it has made of the lifespan of the Forth Road Bridge.

Tavish Scott: The operation and management of the Forth Road Bridge, including any assessment of the bridge’s remaining lifespan, is a matter for the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA).

Cancer

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the long-term post-operative survival rate is for patients suffering from oesophageal cancer.

Mr Andy Kerr: The observed five-year survival of Scottish residents diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in the period 1997-2001 who subsequently underwent surgery is 18.1% (1,136 cases). This includes patients diagnosed in later years who have less than five years of follow-up.

Cancer

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of people diagnosed with cancer are eligible to be reimbursed for their travel costs under the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme, broken down by NHS board area.

Mr Andy Kerr: Information is not held centrally on the number of cancer patients who are eligible for reimbursement of travelling expenses under the statutory schemes or those receiving reimbursement where NHS boards have exercised their discretion.

  There are two statutory schemes for the reimbursement of patients’ travelling expenses, now covered by The National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2003 and subsequent amendments, a non-means tested Highlands and Islands scheme and a means tested scheme covering the rest of the country.

  In addition, NHS boards have discretion to reimburse travelling expenses for patients who are not eligible under the statutory schemes where it is deemed to be an extension of treatment costs.

Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether rural community transport initiatives would be eligible for consideration for charitable status under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and, if so, what criteria they would have to fulfil to be considered.

Tavish Scott: Under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act, any body may apply for charitable status. The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) will decide whether or not they meet the criteria. OSCR is under a duty to produce guidance on how it will determine if a body meets the charity test. To meet the criteria, a body must have at least one charitable purpose and provide public benefit. There are 16 charitable purposes listed in the act and there are two which seem relevant to Rural Community Transport Initiatives. These are the advancement of citizenship or community development, which includes rural or urban regeneration and the relief of those in need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage. In addition, OSCR may consider that a body meets the charity test if it has a purpose that can reasonably regarded as analogous to any of the other purposes listed.

European Working Time Directive

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many junior doctors are currently working more hours than is permitted by the European Working Time Directive, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: We do not monitor centrally the compliance of junior doctors with the Working Time Regulations (WTR) since this is the responsibility of NHS boards as employers. However, the working hours of doctors in training are monitored twice a year under the New Deal Contract and data is available centrally from that source.

  Information on compliance rates with the New Deal is published, by NHS board, on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce. Section B gives details of medical staff in NHS Scotland with tables B13 to B17 providing summaries of compliance rates for doctors in training with the New Deal.

  The latest figures reported cover rota period August 2004 to January 2005. The compliance rate for Scotland was 91.2%. Based only on hours worked, 98.9% of doctors in training do not exceed the maximum average of 56 contracted hours per week, which will be the interim limit by August 2007 for the WTR for doctors in training.

  The current WTR limit for this group is an average of 58 hours a week. Junior doctors will not be subject to the 48 hours limit until August 2009.

Ferry Services

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18866 by Tavish Scott on 23 September 2005, how it can ensure that it achieves its stated aim that all bidders should be treated equally if it is providing a subsidy to only one of the bidders for the Northern Isles lifeline ferry routes.

Tavish Scott: Further to the answer to question S2W-18866 on 23 September 2005, our existing subsidy payments to CalMac in terms of its Clyde and Hebrides Ferry services have no bearing on the current Northern Isles tendering exercise. CalMac is aware that it must not cross-subsidise its bid for the Northern Isles contract from the subsidy provided for its existing ferry services and that it must maintain separate financial records. As I noted in my answer to S2W-18866, CalMac will be expected to allow for the recovery of its bidding costs, when it calculates its subsidy bid for the Northern Isles contract.

Ferry Services

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18743 by Tavish Scott on 22 September 2005, whether the three vessels must be used by any incoming operator from the start of the new contract currently being tendered and, if not, whether, in the event of a new operator not using these vessels, any penalty charges would be payable and, if so, by whom.

Tavish Scott: The incoming operator for the next Northern Isles Ferry Services contract will be required to use the three leased passenger and vehicle vessels from the start of the new contract. This will be a requirement in the contract and the question of a new operator not using these vessels would not arise. The detailed requirement for service vessels is set out in section 3.13 of the Invitation to Tender document which was published by the Executive in July 2005. A copy of this is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37566).

NHS Staff

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) nurses and midwives and (b) doctors were internationally recruited in each year since 1999, broken down by country.

Mr Andy Kerr: 1. Figures of nurses and midwives internationally recruited to the NHSScotland are not held centrally. The most recent figures known are those issued by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to September 2004 who identified almost 1,000 whole-time equivalent internationally qualified nurses (IQN’s) were employed in Scotland’s healthcare system. This represents 2% of the national nursing workforce, 80% of whom are employed in the independent sector. Targeted international recruitment of nurses by NHSScotland has been ethical and has been kept to a minimum with less that 200 nurses actively recruited from abroad since 2002.

  2. There are many other IQN’s in Scotland, registered and non-registered, many of whom are domiciled here and have worked within the independent sector or elderly care homes for years. Similarly many IQN’s are self-funded and come to Scotland to do further education, improve their English or seek a career opportunity in NHSScotland. Such nurses cannot be construed as having been internationally recruited and are at liberty to improve their position in society.

  3. Figures of doctors internationally recruited to NHSScotland are also not held centrally, although "country of qualification" i.e. where they obtained their qualification is held. This data would not reflect where they were internationally recruited from, if indeed they were. Many internationally qualified doctors, might have come to Scotland of their own volition or are here to further their training and development and would be perfectly within their rights to do so.

Roads

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the A90 Hatton Bends realignment project will now commence, in light of the passing of the start date of September 2005 indicated in the letter from the previous Minister for Transport to Alex Salmond MP on 24 June 2005, and whether this delay has occurred due to a further repeat of the tendering process.

Tavish Scott: Tenders for the A90 Hatton Bends improvement scheme were received on 29 July 2005 and, following evaluation, the contract was awarded on 11 October 2005. Construction is expected to commence in November 2005.